Finding Family
by OUATlover2000
Summary: At only 9 years old, Emma Swan was abandoned by her junkie mother, Ingrid Fisher. Emma took her father's last name, not her mothers. Ingrid learned that her drug dealer boyfriend, Walsh, was hitting Emma, she dumped her instead of her boyfriend. Emma was thrown around the foster system for nearly a year, until she was placed with Mary Margaret and David Nolan.
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: At only 9 years old, Emma Swan was abandoned by her junkie mother, Ingrid Fisher. Emma took her father's last name, not her mothers. Ingrid learned that her drug dealer boyfriend, Walsh, was hitting Emma, she dumped her instead of her boyfriend. Emma was thrown around the foster system for nearly a year, until she was placed with Mary Margaret and David Nolan._

 **Chapter 1**

Walsh was really getting tired of this little girl getting between him and his girlfriend. Ingrid has money, at least she did, until her parents cut her off. But she still had ways of obscuring money though, that's what he loved about her. Her kid was another story. He saw Emma Swan as an ungrateful brat. One day, he just snapped.

"Walsh? Can you take me to the library?"

He kept his cool at first. "No Emma. I'm obviously busy." He said, going back to separating the drugs for his boss.

"Please Walsh. Mama's asleep again. I really, really wanna go. Raven's gonna be there!"

He was getting irritated, he pushed her back. "I said no Emma. I'm working."

"Please Walsh! It'll only take a few minutes."

He didn't know what happened. The next thing he knew, he had the child in a choke hold. He dropped her the second he realized it. "I said no!" He yelled. "If you tell your mother about this, you'll regret it." Tears were streaming down her face, but she merely nodded. He grabbed her upper arm and shoved her out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

The small girl went into her mother's bedroom and lied down next to her. When she woke up, her mother was awake. If she noticed the bruises on the nearly 9-year old's neck and arm, she didn't say anything.

It went on for months, it got to the point where her presence pissed Walsh off if Ingrid wasn't around. He started hurting her on a daily basis. One day, he was so focused on hitting the child, he didn't hear her mother come home from the store.

"Walsh! Get off of her!" She dropped the groceries and pulled her boyfriend off of her 9-year old daughter. When she got her boyfriend off of Emma, he went into the other room. "Are you okay?" Emma nodded, looking down. "How long has this been going on?" Emma shrugged. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

She walked into the other room, but before she talked to him, she needed a fix. "I want her gone. She goes, or I do." He said as soon as she walked in.

When she answered, she didn't even flinch. "Okay, I'll take her later." She held out her hand for the plate of drugs that Walsh had. He handed it to her, with a smile on his face. They were oblivious to the fact that the little girl was listening.

A few hours later Ingrid came out of the room, with a letter in her hand, the drugs wore off for the most part, so she's be able to drive alright. "Mommy?"

"Go get dressed Emma. We're leaving."

Emma nodded and came out of her room a few minutes later, dressed and ready to go. "Where are we going?"

"Someone's gonna watch you for mommy, alright?" Emma nodded and a few minutes later, the pulled up outside a hospital. "Okay Emma." She handed her daughter the letter. "Don't read this. I want you to go inside and give it to the nurse at the desk. Then I want you to sit in a chair." She told her. "I'll be back in a while." She lied.

"Okay mommy. I love you. See you later." She hugged her mother.

Ingrid broke the hug almost immediately. "Go on Emma."

"Bye mommy." Emma got out of the car and walked inside.

XXX

Emma walked up to the front desk at the hospital. "Hi..."

The nurse looked from her computer screen to the little girl in front of her. "Hello honey. Do you need something?"

She handed the nurse the a letter. "My mommy said to give this to you."

"Well, where is your mommy?"

Emma shrugged. "She'll be back later."

The nurse grabbed the letter and Emma sat in a waiting room chair. The nurse opened the first letter.

 _To whomever it may concern,_

 _I am no longer able to take care of my child. I didn't know how to tell her. I told her I'd be back later, but I won't. It was a lie. I'm not mother material. We've survived for nine years, but I can't do it anymore. Tell her I'm sorry._

The nurse looked up to the innocent nine year old. "Oh my God. Poor girl." She went to her boss' office.

"Come in." The nurse walked in. "Patty? Are you alright?"

The nurse- Patty- sighed. "Nine year old girl just walked into the ER, alone, and gave me this." She handed the letters to her boss, she waited until the sat the letter down to continue. "Allison, what's the protocol here? As long as I've worked here, this has never happened."

"We call social services and tell the girl the truth. Can you do it, or do you want me to?"

Patty sighed. "I can tell the girl."

"Alright. I'll give social services a call."

Patty walked out of the room at back to where Emma was, she lead her to a private room and sat down next to her. "Hi there. My name is Patty."

"I'm Emma… what did the note say?"

The woman sighed. "Honey, your mommy's not coming back. She wrote it in the letter."

"It's because of what Walsh did, isn't it?"

"Who's Walsh? What'd he do?"

Emma looked down. "Mommy's boyfriend. Mommy doesn't want me no more 'cause Walsh hurt me. He told me not to tell mommy, but mommy came home and he was hurting me." She sighed. "When mommy went to go talk to Walsh, I heard them talking. Walsh said he'd leave if mommy didn't make me go." She sniffled, not bothering wiping her tears. "When I peaked in the room, mommy took the grown up candy and fell asleep."

The nurse was appalled. "Did he hurt you today Emma?" The little girl nodded. "Can you show me?" She reluctantly lifted up her shirt and showed the nurse both recent bruises and bruised that were weeks old, then she took her jacket off, revealing the handprints on her arms. "Thank you honey. I'm gonna go get a doctor, for a quick check up."

Emma was checked out by a doctor, she had no permanent damage. About an hour later, a social worker and police officer showed up asking her questions and for an address to her house. She told them the truth. "Dudley street in Roxbury."

A couple hours later, the social worker took her to a place called an orphanage. She didn't really understand. "I'm not an orphan. I have a mommy. Only my daddy's dead, not my mommy."

"But she doesn't want you anymore." One of the kids told her.

XXX

Emma sat there in her bed at the orphanage hoping that it was all a joke. That her mommy was just playing with her. That her mommy was breaking up with meanie Walsh and coming to pick her up later. But deep down, she knew it was the truth. Her mommy doesn't love her. No one does. She's all alone.

XXX

Mary Margaret and David Nolan were lying in bed side-by-side, they'd just received heartbreaking news that she has a _very_ low chance of conception last week, but Mary Margaret stayed optimistic. She's not one to accept defeat. And it's not like there's only one way to have a child. She turned to face her husband, with a small smile. "What if we adopt?"

"What?"

She smiled at him. "Come on David. It's not like there's only one way to have a child. We can adopt a child. There are all sorts of kids out there without parents." The more she talked about it, the more she wanted to do it. "I don't even care how old the child is David. I just want to be a mom."

David smiled. "And I want to be a dad. I always have. We're gonna be parents Mary Margaret. No matter how long it takes Mare. We're gonna do this." The shared a passionate, happy kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Eight months later Mary Margaret and David sat together in the office of a social worker in Boston at a group home. They've been talking with this social worker for a while. He was referred to the couple by Belle French, the town librarian, her adoption to a little boy, about Emma's age, Baelfire, was just finalized. Mr Killian Jones was his social worker as well. "He's a bit of a flirt, but he's good at his job." Belle had told them.

"So, you guys are aware of Emma's past?" He asked them.

They both nodded. "Yes, we read the file you sent us." Mary Margaret told him. "How does this work Mr Jones?"

"What we're gonna do here is, you guys are going to visit her once or twice a week for the next month, then if everything goes well, she'll be moved to your home in Maine for a month. After that, if you're sure about adoption, we will put the papers in motion. That sound good to you lass?" He asked with a wink.

They ignored the flirting. "That sounds great to both of us. Thank you Mr Jones." David stood up and shook his hand… firmly.

"Alrighty then, Emma is waiting on us. Follow me." They walked into a room and saw Emma sitting next to a tub of toys. "Hello Miss Emma." Mr Jones greeted her.

Emma stood up. "Hi Killian."

"This is Mary Margaret and David. The couple I was telling you about. Do you remember?"

Emma nodded. "I remember." She turned to the couple. "Hi. My name's Emma." She said shyly. In all honesty, she's accepted the fact that she was abandoned, now all she wants is a family. But, no matter how hard she tries, she's never enough.

"Well, I'll just leave you be then." Killian left the room.

The couple turned to Emma. "So Emma. Tell us about yourself." Mary Margaret said.

"Like what?"

She woman thought for a moment. "Favorite color? Food? What you like to do for fun?" She prompted.

"I like red. And my favorite food is spaghetti, but my favorite out to eat food is grilled cheese and onion rings." She told them. "I like reading. I always read. My favorite subject is reading."

David smiled. "Mary is an english teacher at the high school in our town."

Emma smiled at Mary Margaret, then her eyes trailed to the badge on David's belt. "Woah. Is that a policeman badge?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Sheriff's badge, actually."

Emma smiled. "That's _so_ cool. I'm gonna be a police officer when I grow up. I'm gonna arrest bad people like… I'm gonna arrest bad people."

XXX

They had visitations like this on every Friday and Saturday for the rest of the month, until it was finally time for her to move in. They couldn't wait until it was time to start the adoption process, they knew that they wanted to adopt Emma after that first meeting.

XXX

Emma wasn't totally sure if she still wanted to stay with the Nolan's. Sure they seemed nice, but they always do. Walsh was nice at first. She thought her m- Ingrid was good, but she wasn't. She's not sure she can take anymore heartbreak or abandonment.

But she just wants to be happy and forget about Ingrid and Walsh. She wants to find a family. Maybe the Nolan's are nice. Maybe, just maybe, she can be happy with them. And just like that, she changed her mind.

She was riding in Killian's car on the way to Storybrooke, Maine. "How long are they gonna want me for?"

"Emma, I told you lass. They're looking into adoption."

She sighed. "But why would they want to adopt me? I'm almost ten."

"Except the do want you lass. They told me. And hey- what does your age have to do with anything? Do you remember the little lad Baelfire?" Emma nodded. "He was just recently adopted by someone in this very town."

She was jumping for joy inside. Maybe she could be happy. For a little while at least. She refuses to truly believe that she'll find her forever family. She decided to change the subject after a moment of complete silence. "Have the police found them yet?"

"Afraid not lass. When they do though, they'll both be in prison for a long while. Mr Osmond could serve up to ten years and your mother-"

She looked over to him. "She's not my mother. She's Ingrid. A mother doesn't abandon her child."

"Right, sorry love. As for Ingrid, she can serve up to five years, on top of drug charges, so possibly longer than Mr Osmond."

Emma sighed. "If the police ever find them." She mumbled to herself and either Killian didn't hear her, or he pretended not to.

They arrived at the Nolan's residence at 3pm. Emma was pretty nervous. She had been fidgety for the past hour. Killian had told her that the adoption will start in a month, but what if they change their mind? What if they find out about her bad dreams. No one wants a kid that has bad dreams. No one.

They'll just see her as a burden, like Ingrid and Walsh did. She hates them. _Hates_ them. Especially Walsh. But she hates her father too. If he'd have stayed alive, Ingrid would have never started using drugs. She never would have started seeing Walsh. Emma might be happy. She shakes the thoughts away. She doesn't want to think about them anymore.

She thinks about Mary Margaret- the nice brunette with a pixie cut and green eye, the high school teacher- and David- the blonde haired man with blue eyes, the sheriff, who has already showed a bit of a protective streak towards her.

She thinks about them possibly being her parents. In the short time that they've know her, they've treated her with more kindness and love, than her own parents ever have, even when her father was alive.

Killian knocks on the door and it swings open almost immediately, Emma had to stifle her laughter, it seems they were as nervous as her.

"Come in, come in." The married couple stepped aside so Killian and Emma could come inside. "How are you Emma?" David asked her.

The little girl shrugged. "I'm okay."

"How would you both like a tour of the house?" Mary Margaret gave Emma and Killian the grand tour, saving Emma's room for last. "And this Miss Emma," she opened a door, located upstairs at the end of the hallway, "is your room."

Emma couldn't help her smile. "It's red. You made red walls." She walked over the bookshelf. "So many books." Her smile only brightened when she saw her favorite series. "Look Killian! It's the Narnia books- ooh and the Harry Potter series!"

"That it is, little love." He turned to the married couple. "You guys did well." He shook the hands of both husband and wife, kissing the knuckles of Mary Margaret. "I should be going now. Give Miss French my best." He turned to Emma. "Goodbye Emma. I'll see you in a month." Emma waved goodbye to her social worker and he was escorted out by David. When Emma was out of earshot, Killian leaned in to talk to David. "Listen mate, I just want to warn you, she may be jumpy around you at first, you have to earn her full trust. She's scared of men, I know I gave you a light warning in Boston, but I'm serious mate." He heaved a sigh. "She's still traumatized by what that bloody bastard did to her."

"I understand Mr Jones. Thank you."

XXX

Emma was heading up to bed, she was surprised to see that they were following her, but didn't object to it. She was most definitely pleased when they tucked her in.

She was scared when they left the room. Everytime she moves to a new place, she has bad dreams for at least two months. She would have the dreams every night. She's scared that if her dreams will wake up the Nolan's, they'll send her back and pick out a new kid to adopt.

They're really nice, they took her shopping and to the library to meet Belle and she got to see Baelfire again. Baelfire hates his dad, like she hates her mom. His dad killed his mom and is in jail now. She wishes her mom and Walsh were in jail.

All sorts of things were going through her mind, trying to keep her mind off of the nightmares. But eventually, sleep overtook her.

 _She was still in the orphanage. "Mommy! You came back for me!"_

" _No!" Her mommy replied. "Don't you understand it Emma? I don't want you anymore. No one wants you or loves you. I have Walsh. He's all I need."_

 _Emma's eyebrow knitted in confusion. "But… you love me mommy. Please don't leave me. I want you mommy." She cried. "Mommy please! I-I'll be good for Walsh! I won't ask him to take me to the park anymore or the library! I promise mommy! Just let me come home."_

 _Her mommy started laughing at her. "We don't want you Emma."_

" _Please mommy." She begged over and over._

Emma was tossing and turning in her sleep. "Please mommy, please mommy, please." She mumbled, then shot up in her bed breathing heavily. She picked up her pillow and cried into it, so the Nolan's wouldn't hear her and get upset because she's up past bedtime. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." She wanted to scream. She wanted to find Ingrid and Walsh and hurt them like they hurt her. She hates them so much. She doesn't understand why no one wants her. Why no one loves her.

XXX

David got out of bed, in search for a glass of water, when he heard whimpering coming from Emma's room. He lightly knocked on her door, as to not scare her. "Emma?" He whispered, then slowly opened the door. "Emma, are you okay?"

She quickly wiped her tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry."

He went over and slowly sat on her bed, grimacing at the jump she made when he did so. "That's okay Emma. You didn't wake me. Did you have a bad dream?" She shrugged. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't quiet enough." She sniffled and ignored his question. "I-I'll be quieter. I promise." He went across the hall and grabbed something from a box in the hall closet. It was a candle. "What's that for?"

"To keep the bad dreams away." He lit the candle, then turned to the little girl before him. "I want you to know, that no matter what, you can come wake me or Mary. You don't need be scared. We won't hurt you." He promised.

"Why?" She blurted out. "Why do you want _me_? Why not a baby?"

He smiled gently at her. "Age doesn't matter to us kiddo. We just want to be parents. The doctors says we can't have kids. We both just want to be parents, and if you'd like, we can be your parents." He was hoping that reassuring her would get her to open up about her dream.

"She said she doesn't want me." She whispered. "No one does and no one loves me."

"That's not true Emma. We want you. Mary and I want you."

Emma sighed. "What's a junkie David?" His eyes went wide. Where had she heard that term? She's not even 10. "That's what the older kids told me my mom was, when I told them about her adult candy."

"Uh… it means that uh, the… adult candy, made her make bad decisions."

Emma's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why doesn't she just stop eating the adult candy?"

Boy, was she curious. "Do you know what addiction is, Emma?"

"It means you love something a lot and you want it all the time, right?"

David nodded. "From what I gather, it sounds like Ingrid was addicted to the uh, adult candy."

"Thank you." David looked at her, a confused expression on his face. "For calling her Ingrid, not my mom. I hate when people call her my mom."

David smiled. "You're very welcome Emma. You ready to go back to bed?" She nodded and laid back and snuggled herself under the covers. "Goodnight." David left the room and made his way into his bedroom and found his wife sitting up in bed.

"Is she okay?" David tilted his head in confusion. She was asleep when he left. How'd she know he was with Emma. "You've been gone for nearly half an hour David. I'm a light sleeper, I heard you get up."

"She had a dream, but she's okay now." He climbed in bed, next to his wife. "I love you."

 _ **Please Review...**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It's been a little over a week and Emma's become a lot less jumpy around David, for which everyone was grateful for.

She was sitting at school alone during recess, she hasn't made very many friends, well, she was friends with Ruby and Baelfire, but Ruby was absent today and Baelfire was hanging out with other boys.

Two fifth graders walked up to her, she didn't know them very well, since she's only in the fourth grade. "Hi Emma."

Emma looked up from her book. "Hi." She recognized the two as Ursula and Cruella, they're best friends.

"Do you wanna know what my mom told me?" Cruella asked, she didn't wait for Emma to answer to continue. "She said that your mom loves drugs more than you. That she abandoned you and you're an orphan now. She said that your mom doesn't love you like she loves me."

Emma's bottom lip was starting to quiver, she was on the verge of tears. "Leave me alone."

Ursula laughed, so Cruella continued. "She said that your dad's dead. I think he just wanted to get away from you."

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Baelfire said from behind them, after seeing that Emma was starting to cry.

A teacher noticed the confrontation between the four students. "Hey, what's going on over here?" Emma picked up her book and took off running. "Emma!"

She ignored her teacher calling after her and ran and ran until she saw a wooden castle, she climbed up on the castle and sat down where no one could see her. She pulled her baby blanket out of her bookbag and wrapped it around herself, it was pretty cold.

XXX

She woke up confused and upset. How did she get back to David and Mary's house? Oh no, they probably don't want her anymore. She ran off, away from school. They probably think she's a trouble maker now. She doesn't feel too well either

"Hey sweetie." Emma's head snapped over to the sound of the voice, she saw Mary sitting there. Emma started getting up, but Mary stopped her. "What are you doing sweetheart?"

Emma coughed. "I have to pack my bags now. I didn't behave."

"Oh honey, what happened today wasn't your fault. Baelfire told the principal what happened. You're not in trouble. But you do need to stay in bed."

Emma's brows furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

"You have a fever, you were out in the cold for quite a while." Emma nodded, then lied back down. "Mind if I tell you a story? It's a true story, about me."

Emma shrugged. "Sure." Then she scooted over, inviting Mary onto the bed with her. Mary smiled and lied next to her on the bed.

"On my eighth birthday, my mom died, I was extremely sad for quite a while. So two years later, when my father told me he was getting married to someone else, I wasn't happy. He married a very young woman, Regina, she was only nineteen at the time, I was never really very nice to her, but she loved me anyways. When I was about eleven, my father got really mad at me and almost hit me, but Regina stopped him."

"Why'd he get mad at you?"

Mary smiled gently at her. "I was wearing my mother's necklace. He didn't like it when people touched her things." Emma leaned into Mary's side. "Regina told my father that if he ever tried to touch me again, she would take me and leave." She was rubbing circles on Emma's back, trying to fight back tears at the memory. "The next day, my father was gone."

"He left you like Ingrid left me?" Emma asked quietly.

Mary nodded. "The only difference is, I had Regina. When he left us, Regina was twenty, she had no clue how to be a mother, and I didn't make it any easier on her. I thought it was her fault, but soon I realized that she was protecting me. Now she's more than my step-mom she's my mom. She's all I need."

"Wait. Your mom's the mayor?" Mary laughed and nodded. "Does that mean… if you guys… I mean, if you and David adopt me… will she be my grandma?"

Mary laughed then smirked. She is _so_ going to tease Regina about this. "Yes she will." Emma hugged her tightly, Mary smiled, returning the hug, until she felt the tears soaking her shirt. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"Why didn't she want me? When my dad was alive, she used to want me, she told me she loved me all the time, but, but, she stopped when he died."

Mary rocked Emma in her arms, trying to calm her down. "I'm not sure honey. But- look at me-" Mary lifted her chin up, so they'd make eye contact. "It's her loss. You're an amazing little girl."

"It's not fair." She whimpered. "It's not fair that my dad died. It's not fair that my- that Ingrid didn't want me. It's- it's not fair, it's not fair that Walsh, that he-he hurt me."

Mary kissed the top of her head. "It's not fair at all sweetie." Mary just laid there holding Emma in her arms, until she was asleep, shortly after, Mary was asleep as well.

She woke up to her husband, running his fingers through her hair. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled weakly at him. "Hey beautiful." He whispered, then kissed her. "Are you staying in here or coming to bed?"

"I think I'm gonna stay in here. She's had a long day and she's running a fever."

He frowned. "I would've come home if-"

She smiled at him. "I know you would've. You're too charming not to. We're okay. You can go to bed."

"You're sure?"

She nodded. "I'm positive. I love you. Goodnight David." He reluctantly left the room.

XXX

Emma woke up enveloped in Mary's arms and she couldn't stop the shy smile that came across her face, despite her killer headache, it was like having a mom again. She also didn't have any bad dreams last night. She melted further into Mary's arms. She felt like it's where she belonged.

"Hey sweetheart." Mary said sleepily. "How are you feeling?"

Emma looked up at Mary from her position and shrugged. "I'm fine." She said with a scratchy throat.

"You don't sound fine." She said with a frown. Emma shrugged nonchalantly. "Really Emma, how do you feel?"

She was halfway through another shrug, when Mary raised an eyebrow at her. "My head hurts a little and my throat too."

"I'm gonna make you some hot tea. I'll be right back."

Emma grabbed her hand. "Can I come too? Please?" She could see Mary was thinking about it. "I can rest on the couch."

"Fine. But you need to stay on the couch." Emma smiled at her and they went downstairs together. Mary walked Emma into the living room, where David was sitting drinking coffee. "She's gonna sit in here and rest, while I get her something for her throat."

Emma went over and sat right next to him, which surprised David, but in a good way. "Hey kiddo. Feeling any better?"

She shrugged. "My throat and head hurts a little, but I'm fine, Mary's making me some tea though."

Mary came back a few seconds later with a mug of steaming tea and a bowl of soup on a tray. She also had some children's tylenol to break Emma's fever. "Here you go sweetheart."

She handed Emma the tray with her soup and tea. "Thanks Mary." Then she handed Emma the small cup of medicine. Emma scrunched her nose up. "Do I have to?"

Mary nodded. "Sorry sweetie, but it'll help your fever." Emma's shoulders slumped, but she took the medicine.

XXX

They spent all day watching movies, and David couldn't stop smiling when Emma fell asleep practically on top of him, and Mary couldn't not take a picture.

She woke up to David carrying her up the stairs, but she didn't object, she kind of liked it, she just looked up at him with her big green eyes and smiled.

When he laid her on the bed, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw her staring at him. "You're awake." She giggled at his jumpiness. "You fell asleep about an hour ago, I didn't want to wake you." She shrugged shyly. "Your fever broke a little while ago." He smiled at her and tucked her in. "You're all set kiddo."

"Goodnight David."

He kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Emma. I'll see you in the morning."

 _ **Please Review...**_


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